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MEXICO – Thousands of North American migrants heading north gather in Mexico City before deciding to travel to the US border in the form of a large caravan or to form smaller groups said migrants and activists.
About 6,000 Central American migrants gathered Tuesday afternoon at a stadium near the Mexico City airport, which is used by the federal and local authorities as a shelter. Migrants received medical care, food and legal advice after a grueling journey of 25 days per 1,000 km in parts of three countries.
Some activists said the plan was to stay in Mexico City in order to wait for the arrival of thousands of additional migrants in at least two other caravans from southern Mexico before deciding to leave for the north as a group may exceed 10,000 people. But activists have warned that plans could change at any time.
Such an initiative could add to the political battle over migration in the United States. In the days leading up to Tuesday's midterm elections, President Trump made the caravan a major campaign issue, claiming that it represents a danger to the United States. authorized in the United States to apply for asylum and ordered that 15,000 soldiers be sent to the US-Mexico border.
The caravans, which include hundreds of migrants walking with children and babies, are part of a new dynamic in which migrants gather to cross some of the deadliest regions in the world and avoid hiring illegal smugglers, coyotes . But the visibility that gives protection to migrants could make their transition more difficult, say activists and immigration experts.
The exhausted migrants relied on tarpaulins inside giant tents installed by the local authorities.
Photo:
ALFREDO ESTRELLA / AGENCY FRANCE-PRESS / GETTY IMAGES
Caravans have given a face to what is normally an invisible migration between Central America and the United States. On average, 450 Central American migrants were apprehended at the southern border of the United States last year, according to US Border Patrol statistics. This means that a caravan of some 6,000 migrants represents much less than two weeks of migration, since not all undocumented migrants in Central America are apprehended.
Migrants in caravans say that they have left poverty and violence for what they hope to be a chance for the American dream.
After several weeks on the road, the migrants were delighted to be in Mexico City, a city that marks almost the mid-point of their journey to the US border.
"For me, it's a great achievement to be here in Mexico City. My baby and I endured hunger, thirst, fatigue, sun, rain. But we did not give up and I'm proud of that, "said Cindy Milla, a 23-year-old single mom from Honduras, while breastfeeding her 10-month-old son. She wants to go to the US-Mexican border in Tijuana, on the San Diego border, and ask for asylum.
The exhausted migrants were resting on tarpaulins in giant tents installed by local authorities, or laying their sleeping bags on the stands after weeks of walking under the hot sun during the day and tropical showers at night. Groups of men were playing cards, while teenagers were holding a football game on nearby land.
Workers also provided rice, beans, boiled eggs and rolls. One volunteer stated that the dining tent provided nearly 20,000 meals a day.
Although there does not yet seem to be any consensus on the timing of departure, many migrants were motivated by the fact that they were numerous enough to head north and try to cross into the United States. United. Most travelers said that the caravan leaders held meetings every night afterwards.
Rodrigo Abeja, leader of People Without Borders, a migrant advocacy group that provides logistical support, said the plan was to rest in Mexico City for two weeks and wait for the other two caravans. Their presence in the capital could also be a way to protest and get more visibility on their fate, he said.
Irineo Mujica, head of People Without Borders, discouraged migrants from traveling to the US border in a single group, saying it would amount to a "declaration of war" that could further fuel political passions north of the border. .
But many migrants are pushing to stay together.
"If it were all up to me, we would all arrive at the border together. We have rights and Donald Trump is not the owner of the world, "said Walter Coello, a Honduran migrant who is part of an informal management and dialogue committee composed of nine people, elected by the migrants to coordinate their activities.
Mr Trump lobbied Mexico to stop the caravans. Mexico has offered all migrants a chance of asylum here, and some 3,200 have applied just after crossing the country's southern border with Guatemala. But the vast majority wants to go to the United States.
"Almost none of them plans to seek asylum in Mexico," said Jacqueline Centeno, a worker at the National Human Rights Commission, which provides assistance to migrants in Mexico City. "They just about all intend to go to the US They are driven by the size of the caravan and excited about the idea of reaching the border."
Enrique Flores, a 32-year-old construction worker in the suburbs of Choluteca in southern Honduras, left his home in mid-October with his girlfriend and two children, Sojey, a 1-year-old girl stated that he had not worked more than two days a week for more than two years and that members of the Barrio 18 and MS-13 groups, the two dominant bands in Honduras, had threatened his mother and his nephew.
"You can not imagine what it means to have nothing to offer your children: no education, no work, no future," he said while bursting in tears. "At nine, gangs are trying to take your children away from the family."
Mr. Flores announced that he was planning to seek asylum in the United States and was hoping to travel to New York, where he had friends who had emigrated before.
Many migrants use the time spent in Mexico City to obtain information on the asylum application process in the United States. The Institute for Immigrant Women, or IMUMI, a Mexican non-profit organization founded by American and Mexican lawyers specializing in the field of human rights children trekking north.
"You have to know that your chances of crossing the United States are very low and that detention is likely, OK?" Maddie Boyd, a US law student who works as a trainee for IMUMI, told two Honduran migrants.
"The first thing you need to tell them clearly is:" I'm afraid to return to my country. "You have to stay calm, it's very important," she adds. She added that some 2,500 migrants were at the Tijuana border post waiting to enter to ask for asylum. She and other lawyers urged migrants to enter the United States legally through a border checkpoint and not to cross illegally.
Write to Juan Montes at [email protected] and Robbie Whelan at robbie. [email protected]
